


Mary, The Magician

by Pinx_B



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Angst, F/F, Yuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28847292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinx_B/pseuds/Pinx_B
Summary: A meander away from reality leads Maribel to a forest imbued with the preternatural that surrounds a cottage filled with ornate figures and a doll..
Relationships: Maribel Hearn/Alice Margatroid
Kudos: 26





	Mary, The Magician

* * *

When Maribel opened her eyes, she was environed by the most beauteous greenery she had ever seen.

The scene was so unlike the defunct domain she resided. 

It was an apposite environment considering where she had returned to. 

But as remarkable as the area was, something sinistrous remained occulded away from Maribel's sight. 

A minacious chill lingered in the air, slowly making its way up the blonde's spine, as if the element had procured claws in a bid to wedge deep into Maribel's skin. 

She was accustomed to that sensation now and it did little to hinder the picturesque view around her. 

Maribel was encompassed by trees that were dense enough to block out the most luminescent of lights and she wasn't sure if it was night or day considering the few streaks that made it beyond the canopy. 

The gleam from the sun and moon could be the same to the discerning eye. 

Remaining still, Maribel heard scuttling and anomalous sounds in the vicinity, noises that were not normal in the world she was from.

The leaves bristled with the ominous wind, creating an eldritch setting as the point of where each audible came from couldn't be deduced, couldn't be seen, as if wrapped in an illusion. 

Anyone else would have ran away, ran till they escaped this recondite world but Maribel stayed rooted to the spot.

This was _normal_ for her.

A serene smile nestled on her lips as her violet eyes took in the cottage in the middle of the forest that was inhabited by creatures that would prove to be a detriment to the owner's health. 

_If_ she wasn't one of those said creatures. 

But Maribel didn't mind, her feet moving autonomously towards the quaint house.

This was just another home for her, one of many she dipped her presence into when her eyes closed and mind wandered.

The woman continued her soft steps towards the home, taking note of any details that had changed from the last time she had visited.

It was uncanny here, this much she could intuit as the garden was blooming with flowers and vegetables, each row neatly aligned and well pruned. 

The growth shouldn't be plausible and yet, the flora flourished. 

Maribel always appreciated the magician's knack for growing things, creating the living from the dead. 

She had had the pleasure of tasting the dishes conjured by the resident of the house whom created it for her and Maribel couldn't wait to feast on them again.

Couldn't wait to see _her_ again. 

The woman couldn't recall the last time she was whisked away here; she wondered if the magician would remember her.

Approaching the door, Maribel knocked.

A range of emotions welled up inside her chest; wonder, loss, anticipation.

Whenever this world summoned her, Maribel was always looking forward to it.

The door opened to reveal the owner of the house.

Their eyes met as the woman smiled which nulled the worry from Maribel's mind.

The whirlwind of emotions settled into one for Maribel; respite. 

Alice was still alive. 

"You're back, Maribel".

The blonde nodded, accepted the hand that was stretched out and waiting for hers. She clasped her hand over it, brushing her thumb over the woman's knuckles, feeling the warmth, the _desperation_.

Maribel felt the cracks. 

They were deeper than the last time.

"I'm home, Alice".

The declaration made Alice smile gently, the corners of her eyes crinkling as the mesmerising blue orbs lulled Maribel in further. 

Had it truly had been _that_ long since she had appeared here with Alice?

She made a note to apologies. 

Alice must have been terribly lonely without her.

The magician doesn't let go of her hand as she leads her into her kitchen after closing the door and Maribel notices that the table is already set out. 

Piping cups of tea, the steam still billowing out like a phantom haunting a grave. 

She _always_ knew when Maribel was coming before Maribel even realised it herself.

Pressing Maribel's hand in hers, Alice faced her, "Is something wrong?".

Maribel wondered, was there something wrong with this situation?

Why did Alice always know?

Was there a perfidious agenda as to _why_ she knew? 

What was the need in saying that Maribel wasn't dressed like _her_ this time? 

Who was _her_? 

As much as she wanted to ask her, one look at the woman's eyes quashed the question down. Though the other blonde was calm, it was easy to tell how delighted she was about having company.

Gensokyo's wasn't like what it used to be, Alice no longer smiled freely. 

"It's good to see you again" Maribel instead said and let go of Alice's hand to pull her into a proper embrace. 

Alice resisted, she always did at first before she found herself succumbing to the shorter woman. A sigh escaped her lips to feel flesh and blood, to feel Maribel's heart pounding against her chest. She inhaled the woman's delicate scent which seemed to liven her senses up, a stark change from the tepid and saturnine fragrances she was now used to. Her arms tentatively lifted and enclosed around Maribel's upper back, feeling the way her body would allow the crushing pressure. 

Almost as if Alice was ensuring that this wasn't another deceitful apparition. 

"I'm glad you are here" she whispered into Maribel's ear.

"As am I". 

They remained that way, reveling in the moment of processing an unnerving level of contact from each other.

There was no reason nor rhyme as to _why_ they met each other but the short amount time was a necessity for both women. 

Over time, over decades and decades, Alice had come to look forward to these nights that Maribel would visit her, they were pivotal to her wilting sanity.

Maribel in turn would feel her mind being reinvigorated, rescued from the realities of her own world after being sent elsewhere, to a primitive location. 

Gensokyo is a relic, Alice was decaying.

The Outside World is apocalyptic, Maribel was fading.

A strange nexus, but a connection nonetheless between two magicians to attenuate their apathetic existence. 

Alice lessened her hold on the woman enough to pull back, tilting her head when Maribel's fingers swept over her fringe, tucking it away out of her eyes.

She noticed the slight glistening in the blue orbs.

Or perhaps she was seeing the reflection of her own.

It didn't matter as Alice surrendered her hold on Maribel and led her to the table with tea and delicacies, the chairs close together.

Maribel smiled and sat down as she took in the of array of food and again, she was reminded that this was real.

At least, somewhere in her conscious there was no contention to that possibility _not_ being the case. 

She could taste the treats in her mouth, she could feel Alice's fingers resting at the nape of her neck as she took a seat, she could follow the motions of a thousand eyes following her from the dolls that were tucked away, but not quite.

She could feel eyes that didn't belong to the dolls. 

Everything was tangible.

Their fear, their confusion, their loss.

Maribel's realities often warped, displaying the remnants of what once was and perhaps Alice was one of those realities that was never meant to exist to her. 

But she was relieved Alice _did_ exist as the magician made sense in the swirl of colours inside her head.

Maribel peered at her, her hand reaching up to touch Alice's cheek. 

She was _icy_. 

Barriers upon barriers, splitting beneath her fingertips in the way she could control and yet there Alice was, _whole_.

She pushed past the frigid feeling her fingertips were enduring as she caressed the other magician's jaw, running her thumb over it till she could brush the digit beneath Alice's lips. 

So _cold_. 

Maybe if she took off the rose tinted glasses, Maribel would see the reality she was in for what it _truly_ was. 

Then the explanation of _why_ Alice was always gelid would make sense. 

Because the garden Maribel had stepped into was nothing but a shallow grave of death and decay. 

Everything was rotten, the plants, the fruit, the vegetable, the air. 

Stagnant, necrotised. 

Maribel blinked away the dreary fog that shrouded her whenever she appeared in the Forest of Magic. 

The one that concealed the _true_ state of the illusionary land around her. 

For Maribel, it was just a dream.

For Alice, this was a reality.

Maribel felt callous for doing this but Alice didn't seem to mind, wasn't disinclined to living in the fantasy world where they drank tea together and became immersed in each other like now.

Alice didn't mind sitting on the couch, reading through her grimoire and tomes with Maribel resting over her shoulder.

She didn't mind watching the way Maribel analysed her lifeless dolls, her fragile hands shaking when she held each one out to her. 

How could she mind the way she could rest in her bed with Maribel next to her, their palms joined between their chest as the lay sideward. 

Alice was thankful of the mirage. 

Maribel would count the lashes of Alice's eyes, watching each strand being illuminated by the blue iris's.

"Maribel?". 

"Yes?". 

"Why do you come to me?". 

Maribel's lips parted to answer, to lie, to assuage. 

But Alice's fingers pressed into her chest, cold nails marking flesh. 

Shifting closer, Maribel sighed, "I don't know" she answered honestly, hand stroking down the cracks over Alice's bare arm, "I can't help you without knowing _why_ I should be here". 

"I don't think you are here to help me". 

Maribel frowned ever so slightly as Alice shuddered. 

More cracks appeared over her pale skin. 

To be imbued with abilities that could contort the very essence of reality and yet being reduced to being able to do _nothing_. 

It was twisted. 

Maribel wondered how her predecessor coped. 

What would _Yukari_ do? 

Rough fingertips landed near her neck, bringing her out of her reverie. 

Alice was smiling, but there was something unhinged about it. 

Acceptance. 

"You cannot save everyone. Someone once told me that and I..didn't believe her, took her words as a being who had little understanding of the concept of life and death because she could create it".

"Alice" Maribel said softly, the other woman's eyes misting, glassy, doll like. 

"But she _was_ right. We don't exist for eternity, we can't. It's..futile" Alice concluded as Maribel's fingers went into her hair, the straw like strands snapping. 

"I understand living isn't infinite" Maribel replied, looking at Alice's unmoving eyes, "No matter what we do to sustain ourselves. So why.. _why_ do I have to watch you crumble away every time I come here?". 

"I wondered that too. But I realised something, Maribel. You're not here to save me". 

"Then what is my purpose here?" Maribel answered, tone clipped with anguish, "To watch you die?".

Alice chuckled, tone gravely and hoarse, "No, not to die".

The other woman waited for Alice to elaborate, to find reason in this absurdity of crossing barriers to find nothing but death. 

"You're here to help me live, Maribel. I can't leave here yet, you know that. With you here, the chance of everything fading away is lessened. I can't let Gensokyo disappear like _they_ did. I need you". 

Alice's plea burrowed into Maribel's heart, her grip on the magician's body increasing, bones brittle and breaking under each hold. 

Was _that_ her purpose, was _this_ the curse of being able to unpluck the foundations of everything around her? 

Maribel no longer understood, no longer yearned to want to understand as Alice leaned forward and kissed her. 

She was so _cold_. 

"To help you live.." Maribel repeated, lips hovering over the other woman's, " _To help me live_ " she added. 

Because just like Alice, Maribel too was leading a life abated with fabrication and wishful thinking. 

That's _why_ she ended up here with Alice in the ghost of a land that her predecessor could not maintain, crushing her very existence till she became one with the barriers she once controlled. 

So Maribel smiled, eyes shimmering as she began to weave a tale of a time where only one reality existed. 

And in that reality, they were both happy. 

Alive. 

Alice would hold onto every word Maribel said about dreams of a faraway land where she lived.

They talked about the present, laughing when they realised the point of this situation. 

They talked about the future, of being together between breathless kisses and languid touches. 

They talked until they couldn't, until time stole their precious moments away. 

Maribel felt deceitful, cruel.

Because as soon as Alice closed her eyes, she would leave a soft kiss to her lips and then fade away.

Just like she always did.

The present would become curative once she dispersed from a dimension in which she didn't belong in. 

For Maribel had no home, left forever to wonder through every boundary, every gap, leaving her mark on those she encountered.

Following in Yukari's footsteps. 

For the trapped doll in the Forest of Magic who had been left alone, Maribel was a lifeline, helping her cling onto disillusions.

Such was the wretched fate of a doll maker. 

So when Alice woke up the following day, she would feel the warmth of Maribel's body on the side as she rested her hand over it.

Her tears would cease and a pained smile would flutter across her lips. 

She would be grateful for the stranger that appeared in her dreams.

Because for those few hours, Alice wouldn't be engulfed in loneliness.

The loneliness left by all those that had perished.

For Gensokyo was nothing more than the decrepit remnant of a project go awry.

Abandoned and left to rot.

Alice didn't leave, _couldn't_ leave the shell that the land had become.

Forever bound by the memories of a Gensokyo that refused to flutter away, always being brought back by a deceased woman who haunted her dreams. 

Hallucinations that were both assiduous yet pernicious to both. 

_"Perhaps she did encompasses the tenebrous chasms of my subconscious, perhaps she was the conduit to it all, a mere figment of my fading imagination"._


End file.
